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NL DIVISION SERIES: GIANTS VS CUBS

October 11, 2016

Bruce Bochy

San Francisco, California - Postgame four

Cubs - 6, Giants - 5

BRUCE BOCHY: Is Bruce Bochy.

THE MODERATOR: First question, please.

Q. Obvious question: Was there any thought about keeping Moore in for the 9th at all?
BRUCE BOCHY: No, that's a lot of work he did. At that point where he's at, he did his job. We were lined up. All our guys are setup guys, everybody there. And he had gone far enough.

I would like to think you're going to get three outs there. We couldn't do it. Because of the job he did, we had all the guys set up, we just couldn't get outs.

Q. Did you have a conversation with Matt in between innings about how he felt?
BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah, we always check with the pitcher. He -- again, he did his job. We got to take care of these guys too. It's a lot of work. You like to think you're going to get the three outs there.

But, sure, we can look now and say, hey, push him even more, but we had confidence that these guys that we put out there would get outs against that lineup, we could get the matchups that we wanted, and it didn't work out.

Q. How strange does this feel? This is the first time you've had to have one of these press conferences in a Giants uniform.
BRUCE BOCHY: It is, it's a weird feeling, it is. It just ends so abruptly and especially the way it ended. That's kind of tough on all these guys. They played so well today. Great job, what Matt did for us. And you like to think that you're going to hold on and we're head to go Chicago.

So it's a change feeling, it kind of gives you an empty stomach to go out like this. But these guys, last two weeks have been playoff games, they played their hearts out. And it's a tough way to go out, but what a great job they did, going back to the last home stand, Wild Card, and these were hard-fought games.

And give the Cubs credit, they mounted quite a comeback. We couldn't get a ball hit at somebody. The ground balls. It's a tough break for these guys, as hard as they played.

Q. Blown saves in the last two games, you win the previous one, you lose this one and end the season. Was the bullpen just not good enough, or where you just never quite got a feel for those guys?
BRUCE BOCHY: Really, lately the bullpen's been pretty good. I was a little worried about Romo today with going two innings, but like I said, Law had the first guy, and had Lopez had the matchup I wanted there, the walk didn't help things out there. But if you look at the last two, three weeks, the bullpen's been doing a good job.

Q. What did you see on the play where Brandon Crawford hit the double which looked like a home run and Hunter Pence got confused at second?
BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah, I think he thought he missed second, so that's why he went back to make sure he tagged it. And we did get him in, so it didn't hurt us there with Conor getting that big hit there. In fact, we got both guys in. It's a case where a guy thinks he misses a bag, he's got to go back.

Q. You mentioned in the 9th inning the feeling you just couldn't get a ball hit at anybody. It looked like Bryant hit it through the shift and then Zobrist just inside the line and then Will Smith almost had it looked like he kind of pulled back on that. Any feeling when you look back you'll think this kind of -- this was their time?
BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah, you do. With the way the ball bounced that last inning, I hate to use the word destiny, but they have had a great year and that's quite a comeback they mounted there. They got a break there on the throwing error that set up the winning run.

But it's frustrating when you actually get the ground ball, like you said, Bryant beat the shift, he hit the ball right where the shortstop normally is, and of course the ground ball up the middle, that's a bad break.

But that's baseball. You got to get those last three outs, and that has been a problem for us. Last night same thing happened, but we held on.

So, we're hoping to keep that game tied. Strick's in there, double switch, he's going to go at least another inning, but they got a nice break there on a -- might have been a broken bat hit up the middle that just -- that was a seeing eye hit.

Q. Was the plan Law for Bryant only no matter what and then Lopez for Rizzo for sure and then Sergio to finish, or could Lopez have finished? Or what was the third part of it?
BRUCE BOCHY: Well, yeah, at that time we're going outs. So, we had Lopez ready for Rizzo. He gets him out and he stays in the game. But at that point I thought let's go with a guy that's been closing games, and Zobrist got a big double there for them. And then when they put the left-hand hitter up, I had Smitty ready, who's been doing a great job for us. Got the ground ball, just got a bad break there.

But we had it lined up, like I said, the matchups. Just didn't play out tonight.

Q. Do you have any feeling going forward how tough they're going to be for the teams they play?
BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah, I mean, they're so balanced, great pitching staff, great bullpen, that's why they won over a hundred games. So whoever plays them has their work cut out. That's how good they are.

And we played them tough. The first game could have gone either way. We couldn't score there. What a job Cueto did. Adam tonight, it got away from us. But good teams find a way to come back, and they did it.

Q. I know it's hard for you to encapsulate the season. When you look at what happened, you guys had the best record in baseball at the All-Star break, you guys struggled but made the playoffs. How will you remember this season?
BRUCE BOCHY: It's a tale of two seasons, the first half and second half. But I think what I'll remember is how they really bounced back and found a way to get in there, to get to the Wild Card and that game.

And this series was -- they played well against a very good ball club. And we were so close to heading to Chicago, had our guy Johnny going.

So this, it's a tough one, there's no getting around it, to end it like this. We really would have liked to have had a shot there in that fifth game.

But you give them credit again. They threw out some good at-bats against us.

THE MODERATOR: All right. Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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